After listening to Col. Vertz talk to us today about how much OM helped him in his career and how he never gave up on his dreams, no matter how improbable, it made me think about my life and my goals, and how OM has changed me. I can still remember walking into the school for the first time... being weirded out by all these strange american kids with their foreign accents actually cheering and showing school spirit... rushing around my first day of school, trying to make friends and fit in... I feel like that person who moved here from England is completely different from the person that I am now. I am so much more confident of myself and my abilities to relate to other people, I am more passionate about the things that I care about and I have found my place as a part of the community of OM. Would this change have happened to me somewhere else? Maybe. But I think that OM has shaped me and fueled my desire to be active in my community, given me the confidence to reach out to others and to trust myself. I can say with certainty that OM has influenced the person that I am. The amazing community and support that I have found here has inspired me, and I hope that one day I can come back to the Mill and share my success story to inspire other students to be the best that they can be.
Guru Amar Das was born a Hindu in 1479. An eldest son, he was a farmer and a trader with a wife and four children. He became a Sikh in his old age, succeeding to the title of Guru at age
73. However, the son of the old Guru was resentful and kicked Guru Amar Das out of Goindwal. However, his followers pleaded for him to return, and after the previous Guru's son, unable to gather a following, left, Guru Amar Das returned to Goindwal. As Guru, Amar Das furthered the principles of Sikhism. He ignored caste boundaries, even before the Raja, and strove for the equality of women. Amar Das also made sure that any of his supplicant s received and created a Sikh soup kitchen. Goindwal became a center for Sikhism and many other faiths, who flocked to be near the Guru. He impressed Emperor Akbar, sending his son-in-law with a message that convinvced the emperor to leave the Sikh people alone against the wishes of Muslim and Hindu countrymen. In addition, Guru Amar Das started missionary practices, using women as well as men. He collected hymns and writings of several Gurus, including himself, in a book of religious scriptures in Punjab, so that all could understand. Amar Das' son-in-law, Jatha began the building of Ramdaspur (Amritsar), the holiest city in Sikhism. Guru Amar Das died at age 95 in 1574 after naming his son-in-law Jatha, whom he renamed Ram Das, as the next Guru.
Although many people believe that pirates lived simply for plunder and adventure, killing any who stood in their way, there were some things even pirates wouldn't dare do. In fact, they had ethical codes, which they obeyed with fierce punishments for wrongdoers. Generally, pirates left women and children be, honored surrenders and avoided unnecessary killings. Rules were enforced with whip and knife, but any punishment was decided by the crew as a whole--pirate ships were mini, floating examples of true democracy. Although the captain held the wheel, so to speak, any man could challenge him for leadership and the crew could vote on just about every decision. Was this an ethical way to live? No more ethical than living in a corrupted bureaucratic system, gridlocked by its own complexities and misunderstood, and often misrepresented, by the very people it is supposed to serve. Our justice system, though less physically brutal, is no less harsh than the pirates'--at least they always got a second chance to prove themselves.
